A Holiday Hassle: Gifts at Work

Don’t get me wrong, I love the holidays, and I love giving and receiving gifts. But after all the hassle my office has just gone through deciding how to give the gifts (yankee swap vs. secret santa), the merry has melted right out of the thing. There are so many rules to consider, so many [...]

November 23 is Buy Nothing Day!

Come all ye fair and tender shoppers Be careful how you spend your dough It’s like a puddle after a rainstorm It first appears, then there’s no more Tralala, it’s Buy Nothing Day! If you’re in the US or Canada, that is; in other countries it’s November 24. Buy Nothing Day was founded in 1992 [...]

Leaving the Country to Give Thanks

Five years ago I met my Canadian girlfriend, M. I’d like to tell you that we met reaching for Adrienne Rich’s The Dream of a Common Language in our favorite independent bookstore, but we met in typical college fashion, in a gay bar across the river from campus. An athlete and later coach, M always [...]

A Car Accident and a Baby

So it has been a while since I’ve posted, but when you hear my story, you’ll forgive me. I am pregnant with my first child (due April 30th), and though I am utterly thrilled, my husband and I didn’t exactly plan the pregnancy. Being the crazy person that I am, I decided that I would [...]

What’s in a Name?

To change, or not to change, that is the question – my last name, that is. I’m getting married, and I am struggling with this decision. I should note before continuing that my fiance is totally on board with whatever I decide (and even has expressed the opinion that maybe I should keep my own). [...]

The Two-Bride Bachelorette – A Success!

In May, I wrote about my sister’s Two-Bride Bachelorette party. Was it wrong for me to bring both brides to the same party? Would I be depriving one or the other of the naughtiness they deserved on their bachelorette party day? Well, here’s my update. Both women (and all of their friends) had a BLAST. [...]

Out of the loop? Catch up on current events

While you’ve been on vacation, here’s what you’ve missed -J. Goodrich wrote a meaty article for The American Prospect about how the media portrays Republicans as the “Daddy Party” and Democrats as the “Mommy Party” by strategically using masculine and feminine terminology in their descriptions of candidates like Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton. [...]

Every Kiss Begins with Slavery

My boyfriend and I recently became engaged, and now we are preparing to purchase an engagement ring for me. (Who knew I’d want one so badly?) The only problem is that we don’t want to begin our marriage by feeding the bloody and violent diamond trade. John Ruskin said it best about glass beads in [...]

What my mother taught me

I grew up in a family with five children (I was the fourth), and we ate dinner together every night around a large square table, two to a side. Early on, my mother started the tradition of “sayings” before each meal. We’d go around the table, and each of us would quote words of wisdom [...]